Home > Student Exhibition in Borland Gallery Blurs the Line Between Photography and Art

Student Exhibition in Borland Gallery Blurs the Line Between Photography and Art

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Life.Color.Abstraction, an exhibition featuring photography by Jessica Korch, a senior majoring in integrative arts and advertising, with a minor in art history, will be on display in the Borland Gallery on the Penn State University Park campus, October 21 to November 1, 2013. Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday. A reception will be held on Monday, October 21, 6:00-9:30 p.m., in the gallery.

In Life.Color.Abstraction, Korch utilizes her fine arts background to make her images blur the line between a photograph and a painting. Her images include the Arboretum at Penn State and the campus mourning Joseph Paterno, as well as nature found in cities, including New York, San Diego, and Orlando. “Using only natural light, my photographs start grounded in reality,” Korch says. “They increasingly become surreal, creating an element of abstraction. I question, is there more beyond the reality that we take for granted?”

“Football Player” was taken after Joe Paterno’s death when people placed roses inside the helmets of the football player relief sculptures that flanked his statue. “Many Phases of Trees,” taken from the Arboretum of the surrounding mountainside, captures the trees in the fall.

When Korch came to Penn State, she already had several art awards. Though she chose to major in advertising, Korch found that she was constantly visualizing photographic opportunities and decided to always carry a digital snapshot camera. Her family quickly saw her potential and her father, an avid amateur photographer, provided Korch with a single lens reflex camera. She has been using this camera ever since to document the world around her, and most importantly, her experience at Penn State. As she is immersed in unique environments, Korch envisions a fine art perspective in her compositions that goes beyond pure documentation. “My exhibit is a step beyond the reality shown in the world around us. My work goes past what we take for granted. I plan to show a new, surreal, and artistic perspective on the nature and world we see everyday.”

Though her post-graduate goal is to work in the creative department of an advertising agency, Korch’s love for photography and the fine arts will continue to play a pivotal role in her future. She also plans to continue to pursue photography. “My emphasis of art is photography. Out of all the media I have worked with, photography plays the most into my love for composition and color,” Korch says. “Photography has been my way of creatively communicating my mindset on life and what I see.”